The Blogsinger Family: 5/24/2008 SLEEP- revisited

After a month or so being home, I finally began to show baby Paul photos of his foster family. AND I put a photo of his foster parents with us in a frame on his dresser. He LOVES to look at that picture. I will point to his foster mom and say, “Umma” and he will giggle. I point to his foster dad and say “Appa” and he laughs. When I point to him and say “baby Paul – WonUoo” he smiles and kicks his feet. And he smiles when I point to John and me. I think he is satisfied that he is with us now. But I think when he sees the pictures of his foster family – it really makes him happy. I am glad he has that reaction – he is happy to see them, instead of crying. I want him to remember them always, even if it is only through pictures and stories. I just wish I could tell them about this. I think it would bring them comfort.

I shared a while back that we were all sleeping for the most part, with baby Paul waking at least once a night for attention and maybe a bottle. That has not changed, he still wakes most every night and I try and pull him in bed with me to get him back to sleep. (remember that we are all sleeping next to each other – me on a twin mattress on the floor and the kids on a pallet of sorts on the floor as well).

Anyway, I will pull him into bed with me and sometimes he goes right back to sleep for a while and then I can move him back to the kids “bed” with success. Sometimes it is not comforting enough for him and he needs a diaper change and a bottle. By then I am wide awake. Ironically, so far I am able to go back to sleep without much fuss. The nights are interrupted however.

That all worked well, but now that I am back at work and trying to be alert during the day (at a desk, behind a computer, etc) it is wearing on me. KEEP in mind that I am not complaining . . . After our experience with Lacie who went through about 8 months of waking EVERY night and was UP for 2 to 3 hours at a time – and me only getting about 4 hours a sleep at most, and me working full time every day, I will take what baby Paul gives us and not complain. So, why do I share this info? PRAYERS. I believe in them and I think that is what got us through Lacie’s erratic sleep schedules.

Please pray that he begin to sleep all night. Please pray that we can soon begin to move him to his crib with success, that he likes it and that I can eventually move back to the master bedroom – to my queen size bed with a pillow top mattress, and fluffy pillows.

THANKS! Speaking of sleep – here is a picture of how baby Paul puts himself to sleep on occasion. He loves to be held most times, but when he is REALLY tired, he will fall asleep like this:

I know I share this all the time – but each time I share, it is deeper – the love and attachment between brother and sister is growing and amazing. He LOVES Lacie. This morning when we went to wake Lacie, baby Paul was so excited to see her that he kept touching her face and giggling. AND when we went to snuggle on the couch for a few minutes, he kept smiling at her and reaching for her to hug. He really HUGS her at times.

A funny story on Lacie: this evening my mother took Lacie to dinner at McDonalds. The woman who took Lacie’s order had a gold tooth. Lacie saw her and asked, “what is that?” And after the woman answered her, Lacie asked, “can I touch it?” Of course she did not get to touch it, but she tried anyway. She is so funny – and bold.

We have gone to the zoo two times since we have been home. Here are some fun pictures of our zoo trips. The first time we went with dear friends Bette, Mike and Noah. The second time with our china play group for girls Lacie’s age. I just realized the good pictures of our trip with Noah are probably in Bette's camera. Will add more of those later. Enjoy!